Attachment for converting dry twisters into wet twisters



June 1, 1943. J. E. TURCOTTE 2,320,956

ATTACHMENT FOR CONVERTING DRY TWISTERS INTO WET TWISTERS Filed May 26, 1942 by WWI- Patented June 1, 1943 OFFICE ATTACHMENT FOR CONVERTING DRY TWISTERS INTO WET TWISTERS John E. Turcottc, Worcester, Mass.

Application May 26, 1942, Serial No. 444,555

15 Claims.

This invention relates to attachments to be applied directly to already existing dry twisting machines for making cord or the like so as to convert the same into wet twisters and thereby increase the strength of the cord at a saving in cost.

Objects of the invention include the provision of a simple and easily applied attachment to conventional dry twi'sters for permitting the in expensive and easy manufacture of wet twisted cord or the like by means of the dry twister having the attachment.

A further object of the invention includes the provision of a liquid receptacle, pan or the like and means for attaching the same directly to the frame of an existing dry twisting machine, said receptacle or pan being supplied with means for accommodating and guiding a plurality of separated threads, whereby the liquid can be applied to the threads individually, and the provision of a thread guide ring to be disposed on a part of the existing machine for thepurpose of maintaining the threads in separated condition until they enter the twister die.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method and means for wet twisting a plurality of separate threads and for maintaining the separation of the threads until they enter the twister die, whereby the apparatus is capable of twisting the separate wetted threads in the twister die directly from the creels of a dry twister, without the necessity of building or buying complete new wet twisting machines.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Referenceis to be had to the accompanying drawing, in which Fig, 1 is a side elevation of the invention shown as it is applied to the frame and other existing parts of a conventional dry twister;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the liquid holding receptacle or pan;

Fig. 3 is a still further enlarged sectional view of the receptacle or pan;

Fig, 4 is a plan view of the guide ring; and Fig. 5 is a partial sectional view of one of the rollers.

The conventional dry twister of the gear driven.

type includes among other things -a supporting frame. a creel frame supported thereon, a tension ring, twister die, tensionandfeed devices, and a flier for delivering the twisted cord to the spool. These elements are the basic parts of a dry twisting machine, the twister die ordinarily being rotated by means of gears. known that dry twisted cord is not as strong as wet twisted cord, other things being equal, and the desirability of being able to quickly and easily convert a dry twister to a wet twister is apparent.

In the drawing of the present case the supporting frame which is ordinarily mounted on the floor is indicated by the reference numeral i0, and the creel frame, bolted thereto and supported thereon, is indicated at I2. In the present instance the machine is shown as supplied with eight creels I4, which in the conventional dry twister are led to the twister die through the tension ring, not shown. In the present case a bracket iii of any desired or convenient construction may be bolted to the supporting frame 10 or between the creel frame and the supporting frame, or to the creel frame. This bracket is formed at its free end' I8 so as to support a substantially semi-circular or the like shaped liquid holding receptacle or pan 20 directly above the tension ring of the conventional dry twister.

As shown in Fig. 2 receptacle or pan 20 may be of any length desired to accommodate the desired number of spindles, and bearing blocks 22 are supplied for the purpose of supporting a shaft 24 longitudinally of the receptacle. This shaft mounts a plurality of axially aligned rollers 26,

- the rollers being made of wood or the like material. As shown in Fig. 5 each roller is provided with four, or any desired number of circumferential grooves 28, and the individual rollers are maintained separate by means of spacing collars 30. The lateral sides of the pan are provided with paired aligned apertures, one in each side of the pan for each roller groove 28, and these apertures serve to locate and maintain porcelain guiding eyes 32 which are arranged with their barrels substantially tangential to the periphery of the rollers as is clearly shown in Fig. 3.

A- thread guide or separator ring 34 is adapted to be placed on and held in the conventional tensioning ring 35 in the dry twisting machine, but the guide ring may be supported in any other relation which is convenient or desired and therefore the tension ring support which is described has not been shown in the drawing. Guide ring 34 is provided with a series of spaced apertures providing supports for porcelain guide eyes 36 similar to those shown at 32 in Fig. 3, and a diametrically disposed bar 38 is provided across the ring, joining the same between a pair of guide eyes 36. Centrally of the bar 38 and of the ring 34 an additional guide eye 40 is pro- Vlded.

It is well i The reference numeral 42 indicates the conventional conical twister die as supplied with the in any case the construction and operation of I these dies is well known in the art and need not be here further described. The twister die is rotated by means of gears 44, and as is well understood in the art these gears serve to operate a gang of twister spindles all mounted on the same frame spindle there is conventionally provided a flier 46 for directing the twisted cord onto the take-up or delivery spool 48.

Rollers 26 are all loosely and rotatably mounted on their shaft 24 and as shown in Fig. 3 the threads 50 are led separately into the guide eyes 32 at the left hand side of the pan 20 as shown in Fig. 1. These threads are then led over the roller and down through the guide eyes at the right hand side 'of the pan, whence they descend and pass through the guide eyes 36 in ring 34 generally at the right hand side of said ring. Clearly the direction of feed of threads 50 will serve to rotate the roll 26 in a clockwise direction as seen in Figs. 1 and 3. The four threads 52, descending from their creels, are led into the It). Directly below the twister,

pan through guide eyes 312 at the right hand side of the pan as seen in Fig. 1 and cross the pan in a direction opposite to the direction oi travel of threads 50, passing over the next adjacent roller in the pan as shown in Fig. 2 and emerging at the left side thereof through the guide eyes at that side to extend through the guide eyes 36 generally at the left hand side of ring 34. The central guide eye 40 in ring 3t may be used as a core guide in the event it is desired'to produce a cored cord. From the guide ring 34 all the threads pass to the twister die or split compressor wherein the twist is imparted in completely separated condition, and the cord passes through the twister die spindle to the flier to be wound on the take-up spool as shown.-

In a dry twisting-machine there is of course no problem of liquid spray in the twister die since the threads are twisted in a dry condition. With the attachment as above described applied to the dry twister there will be found to be a liquid spray emanating from the bottom of the twister die. For this reason a funnel-like catch basin 54 may be applied to the twister die spindle bearing 56, and the liquid sprayed from the twister die will be caught therein. A trough or the like 58 may be supplied at one side of the spindle for catching the liquid as it runs from the funnel 54 out through a drain 60. There is of course one funnel 54 for each twister die, but the trough 58 maybe arranged to run along all the spindles in the machine.

In the above described. attachment it will be seen that all of the threads 50 and 52 are maintained separate by the guide eyes 32 at each side of the pan 20, by the grooves in the rollers 26, and by the guide ring 34, all of the threads converging from the guide ring in a conical formation into the twister die. The receptacle or pan is supplied with the required type of liquid 62, so that in rotating, the rollers 26 will pick up substantially the correct amount of liquid which will be applied to the threads at the top of the roll in the area bounded by the points of initial contact and separation of the threads with respect to the rollers. The apparatus will supply substantially a required amount of liquid to the threads, it being noted that if the threads were run under the roller, too much liquid would be applied to the threads for the best operation of the machine, and the cord would be too wet when twisted. No matter how low the liquid in the pan descends, liquid will b applied to the threads as long as any part of the rollers dips into the liquid. There is no possibility of the threads being snarled or breaking due to entanglement. this being due to the complete separation of all threads until the twister die is reached, and any excess liquid present will be discharged into the trough 58 for reuse.

In applying the novel attachment to a dry twisting machine, it is not necessary to alter the latter in any respect whatever except by attaching the bracket l6 and by resting the guide ring 34 in the tension separators found in gear driven dry twisters. Thus it will be seen that the present attachment is extremely simple and easy in application to a conventional machine and that it requires no alteration in the existing machine. The funnel 54 is not necessary to the successful operation of th attachment as it merely catches the resultant spray not present in the dry twisters, but this apparatus constitutes a convenient guard and saves the liquid for reuse.

Also, the use of the above described attachment does not require any dislocation of the thread feed, the threads still traveling directly vertically downwardly from the creels to the twister die except for the pass across the liquid receptacle.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what I claim is:

1. In a dry twisting machine comprising a frame, a separator ring, and a twister die, that improvement which comprises a bracket on said frame, a liquid-holding receptacle mounted on said bracket substantially directly over the separator ring, rollers in said receptacle, and individual thread guides mounted at each side of said receptacle for guiding separated threads into one side thereof and out the other side in separate condition to said ring.

2. In a dry twisting machine comprising a frame, a separator ring, and a twister die there- I below wherein said ring and die are substantially vertically aligned and receive threads from creels generally in straight vertical relation, that improvement which comprises a bracket on said frame, a liquid-holding receptacle on said brack et andlocated vertically between the creels and the separator ring, individual thread guides at each side of the receptacle for guiding separated threads into the receptacle at one side and out the other sid in completely separate condition to the ring, and a thread roller in the receptacle, whereby the threads are led substantially vertically from the creels to the twister die in separate condition.

,3. The improvement in dry twisting machines as recited in claim 1 including a separate separasupport. and twister die all being located to feed and twist threads in a substantially vertical direction, that improvement comprising a liquid receptacle having side walls and located above the ring support. apertures through the opposite side walls of the receptacle, thread guiding means in the apertures. and a pair of rollers in said receptacle, said rollers being free to rotate in either'direction and located between certain of said apertures.

6. The improvement in dry twisting machines as recited in claim including a separat ring in said ring support and thread guides in said ring, said guide being vertical.

7. The improvement in dry twisting machines as recited in claim 1 including a liquid catching receptacle surrounding said twister die.

8. The improvement in dry twisting machines as recited in claim 5 including a liquid catching receptacle surrounding said twister die, means forming a drain in said liquid catching receptacle, and a run-oif trough associated with the drain.

9. The improvement in dry twisting machines as recited in claim 5 wherein said thread guiding means comprises eyes directed tangentially towards the rollers.

10. An attachment for converting a dry twisting machine to a wet twister, comprising a bracket adapted to be attached to a frame of the dry twisting machine, a liquid receptacle disposable on said bracket vertically above the thread separator of the dry twister, rollers in said receptacle, said rollers each accommodating a certain number of threads from the creels and being freely rotatable, and individual thread guides at each side of the receptacle for guiding threads from the creels in either direction across the receptacle in contact with the.rollers.

11. An attachment as recited in claim wherein said thread guides are aligned in pairs, one at each side of the receptacle, whereby the threads for one roller may be fed across the receptacle in a direction opposite to the direction of the feed of threads for another roller.

12. An attachment for converting a conventional dry twisting machine to a wet twister, com prising a bracket for attachment to a frame of the dry twisting machine, a liquid receptacle mountable on the bracket, rollers in said receptacle, said rollers being freely rotatable and located in closely spaced axially aligned relation, pairs of aligned thread guides associated with the receptacle at opposite sides thereof for leading threads across one roller in one direction and across another roller in the opposite direction, a separator ring directly below the receptacle, and individual thread guides in said ring, said guides being spaced, whereby the threads are guided from the creels of the ma.- chinethrough the liquid and all the way to a twister die in separate condition.

13. The combination with a dry twisting machine comprising creels, a thread guide, and a twister die, of means for converting the dry twisting machine into a wet twister, said means comprising a liquid holding receptacle adapted for support vertically above said thread guide, means for guiding separated threads through said receptacle, means in the latter for-applying liquid to the separate threads, a ring separator mountable on the thread guide, and spaced thread guides in said ring.

14. The combination of claim 13 wherein said liquid applying means comprises a plurality of freely rotatable thread carrying rollers in the receptacle.

15. The method of wet twisting which comprises the steps of feeding a plurality of separate threads in opposite directlons'past a liquidreceptacle, applying liquid from the receptacle to the threads, leading the wetted threads generally vertically downwards to a twister die, and maintaining the threads in separated condition to the die.

JOHN E. TURCO'I'IE. 

